A blog about about painting, design and other aspects of aesthetics along with a dash of non-art topics. The point-of-view is that modernism in art is an idea that has, after a century or more, been thoroughly tested and found wanting. Not to say that it should be abolished -- just put in its proper, diminished place.

Friday, July 29, 2011

Molti Ritratti: Lillie Langtry

Lillie Langtry (1853-1929) was free with herself, as her Wikipedia entry describes. At least her favors were distributed in the better social circles, one of her lovers being the Prince of Wales, future King Edward VII.

Given her connections and notoriety, a number of portraits of her were painted and photographs made. Go to Google and Bing to view photographs; below are some of the painted portraits.

Gallery

A reference photo

By John Everett Millais

By Edward John Poynter

By George Frank Miles

By James Sant

By Valentin Prinsep

By George Frederic Watts

Photos of Lillie show no outstanding beauty. I'd rate her as conventionally attractive and have to conclude that her well-documented appeal must have been largely fueled by her personality, including how she carried herself.

As for her looks, it seems that she had a "good side," or thought that she did. Note that there are no views featuring the right side of her face.

About Me

Undergraduate art major. Ph.D. in Sociology, Demography from a fancy Ivy university. Software system and user interface designer and programmer. Writing about art and design on the Internet since 2005.
Email: dbpittenger (at) earthlink.net